Clannad New Beginnings
by HayashiSakura
Summary: This is a fan made sequel to Clannad After Story taking place during Ushio's high school life. However, although she is in the story, she is not the main character. The story takes place in the same town, in the same school with both new and old characters. This is my first fanfiction and I'm completely open to constructive criticism. Disclaimer: I do not own Clannad. I wish i did
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fresh Start

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!" The familiar sound of my alarm clock woke me up suddenly from a particularly pleasant dream. I groaned and swatted my hand all over my bedside table in hopes that I would turn the annoying noise off without having to open my eyes. I did eventually, but not without knocking over the little glass bluebird that my mother had given me for my 13th birthday in the process. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and flicked on my bedside lamp before rubbing the crust from my eyes and drowsily looking around the room.

I had just started living in a small apartment by myself when my parents moved up the country for their work. They owned quite a large business together which caused all of us to have to move frequently. By the time I was 10, I have already pretty much seen every corner of Japan. It was fun, but it wasn't for me. When I got accepted into a prestigious private high school, I did all but beg on my hands and knees to try and convince them to let me stay in town. They eventually agreed and I ended up living in this tiny apartment. It was small, but delightfully cozy.

I sat on my bed and stretched my arms before bending down to pick up my little glass bluebird which thankfully wasn't broken. Thank the lord for shag carpeting.

I shakily stood up off of my bed and drew the curtain in my room back just enough to get a glimpse of the usual building complex outside. It was still dark. I checked my clock to see that it was only 5:00am. Great.

This was a bad habit of mine. On the first day of every term, I would wake up stupidly early to get a good start to the weeks of hard work ahead of me, and then wake up mere minutes before school started every day after. But yeah, today was the first day of the 2nd term of my freshman year, so it was kind of a big deal. I stretched one last time before making my way into the tiny bathroom. It was barely big enough to fit a bath, toilet and sink.

I looked in the mirror and almost choked at my appearance. My elbow-length, light honey colored hair was all over the place, sticking out in directions I didn't know were possible. I grabbed my hairbrush and began the painful task of brushing it, making sure to get out every little knot I could. I brushed my fringe which was hiding my droopy, sky blue eyes out of the way and pinned it back with a hairclip before splashing water over my face in hope that it would help me wake up a little more, but really all it did was make my face wet.

What did wake me up was the sound of my cellphone buzzing on my bed. Somebody was calling me. I wiped my face, my fringe still clipped back and checked who it was calling me. It was dad.

I answered it and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey there, Ayumi. How are you doing?" He sounded as enthusiastic ever.

"Dad, why are you calling me now? It's 5am." I groaned.

"Aw, come on kiddo. You think I don't know my own daughter's habits?" I guess I should've seen that coming. "Is everything okay over there? Are you sleeping alright? What about your diet? You're not eating too many sweets are you?"

The never ending wave of questions seemed to jam my brain the same way too many open tabs can jam a computer. In the end, all I could get out was "Yes dad." Before he wished me good luck, said hi to me from mom, and hung up.

I sighed and gently tossed my phone to my bed before heading back into the bathroom to finish cleaning myself up. I finished washing my face, brushed my teeth, brushed through my hair one last time and headed to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

While my breakfast consisting of a slice of toast and my favorite sunny side up egg was cooking, I got ready for school. I slipped into my navy blue turtle neck sweater, navy blue skirt, tan blazer and knee-high white socks before heading back to the bathroom to tie a thin, red ribbon to the back of my head. It was kind of like my signature look.

I put together my breakfast (just moments before it burned) and checked my clock. Not surprisingly I still had about another hour before I needed to even think about heading to school. I sat down and dug into my breakfast. I wasn't exactly a 5-star chef, but I did know how to make a pretty mean egg and toast.

I was only halfway through my breakfast when my phone went off again. I picked it up expecting it to be dad or even mom calling to check up on me for the hundredth time. To my surprise, it was an unknown number. I barely ever got calls from anyone other than my parents, so to see an unknown number calling me on my cellphone actually made my heart skip a beat.

I took a deep breath before answering the call. "Hello?" I answered with a slight crack in my voice which caused me to facepalm, as if it was a sort of reflex.

"Hello? This is Ayumi Misaka, right?" a gentle voice, obviously female, asked over the phone.

"It sure is. Who's this?"

The voice giggled slightly. "It's Ushio Okazaki. Do you remember me?"

I felt a grin spread across my face from ear to ear. Ushio was a girl in my homegroup at school. I remembered giving her my cellphone number on the last day of term. I wouldn't say we were friends, but she was really the only person I spoke to in any of my classes. It's not like I was shy or anything, but we just kind of clicked the minute we met.

"Hey Ushio, this is a nice surprise. What's up?"

"Not much really. I just finished getting ready for school, so I thought I'd call you." Her voice sounded really enthusiastic. It kind of made me feel happy to know that she'd want to call me in her spare time.

"Well that's really nice of you. How was your break?" I asked.

"It was wonderful! My parents and I took a trip up north. It was a ton of fun. Say, do you want to meet me at the foot of the hill on the way to school? It'd be nice to walk up there together."

"That sounds like a great plan. How about I finish getting ready and I'll meet you at the bottom in about 15 minutes?"

"That's perfect! I'll see you in 15 minutes then."

"Okay, see you later." I hung up my phone. Ushio's enthusiastic nature seemed to be contagious. I felt as though I was ready to take the term head on.

I finished eating my breakfast, checked that I had everything for school for the fiftieth time and left my apartment with a spring in my step, rushing back 5 minutes later after forgetting to lock the door… Again.  
_

And thus concludes the first of many chapters of Clannad New Beginnings. I know that not much happened in this chapter but I hope that now you have a good idea of what Ayumi is like. I'll be going into more depth with her and the other characters later on but for now I've kept it short and sweet. I hope that you'll all continue to follow the adventures (if you can even call them that) of Ayumi, Ushio and co. Again, this is my first fanfiction and I'm completely open to constructive criticism.


	2. Chapter 2: What Happens on the Hill

I rushed over to the hill after realizing I was about 5 minutes late, sprinting around the corner to see Ushio waiting for me just like she said she would. Her brown eyes seemed to light up with happiness as she saw me heading her way.

"Hey, I was just about to call you." She said with a slight smirk. "What took you so long?"

"Yeah…. I'm sorry… About that…" I apologized between breaths, looking down with my hands placed on my knees.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." She said while helping me up. "We're still pretty early anyway."

The two of us started giggling like idiots for a few seconds before heading up the hill to our school.

"You know Ayumi, I don't think that I asked you about your break." Ushio said while tucking a strand of her long, light brown hair behind her ear.

"Oh, it was alright." I said looking straight ahead.

"Just alright?"

"Yep."

"Did you do anything with your parents?" My whole body stiffened for a moment as a bit of an awkward smile spread across my face.

"Well, actually…"

I was about to explain the situation with my parents to her before we heard a loud, high-pitched voice yell out behind us, "Get out of the way!" The two of us spun around before a freshman girl riding her bike crashed straight into me.

"Ayumi! Are you alright?" I heard Ushio ask as she rushed over to the two of us.

I rubbed my aching lower back where I landed, but aside from that I was fine. "It's okay." I reassured her. "It's just pain."

Ushio let out a sigh of a relief. "That's good." The two of us turned our heads to see the young girl lying on her side next to her rather old, rusty bike.

I leaped up and stepped over to her. "What about you?" I asked while crouching down. "How do you fare?"

The young girl managed to sit up and run her fingers through her short, chestnut brown hair. "I-I t-think I'm a-alright." She stuttered. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't hurt anybody, did I?" she looked up at me with large, green eyes.

I placed a hand on her frail shoulder. "Don't worry, I think we're good."

The two of us were interrupted by Ushio crouching down to us and putting on a warm, cheerful smile. "This is a pretty funny way to meet someone, isn't it?" she chuckled. After a few seconds, all three of us started giggling. Students who were making their way up the hill began staring at the three of us.

We eventually stood up and the young girl hopped back on her bike. "My name's Izumi Hagane by the way." She said with a faint blush.

"It's nice to meet you Izumi, My name's Ayumi Misaka."

"And mine's Ushio Okazaki."

"It was nice to meet the two of you." Izumi said before peddling away up the hill.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Ushio asked me with a slight frown on her face. I shrugged.

"It's officially out of our hands. Though I'm sure we'll see her again." I told her with a wink. The two of us let out a long sigh before I got my phone out to check the time. "Come on, we'd better hurry if we're going to make it on time." I said as I began jogging up the hill.

"H-hey, Ayumi! Wait up!" Ushio called as she followed me.

We did make it on time, though the entire morning was a blur. It turned out that Izumi wasn't in the same homeroom as us. We got through morning announcements quickly and started our lessons, but that came and went in the blink of an eye. Before we knew it, it was lunch.

The bell rang and I saw Ushio grab a bento box out from her bag. "Where do you want to eat?" She asked. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You wanna eat with me?" I replied with a sarcastic tone. She gave me a surprised look.

"Well, why wouldn't I?"

I smirked at her. "You've got a point." I said as I stood up from my desk. "How about the courtyard?" The brunet's whole face seemed to light up at my suggestion.

"Sure!"

* * *

I apologize for making this chapter a little shorter than the first one, but I can assure you guys that they'll start to get longer from here on out. I'm trying to introduce new characters at a steady pace so that it's not 'too many too soon.' A new chapter will be uploaded every friday (or thursday for people on the other side of the world) Once again, I'm completely open to constructive criticism and I'd love to see some reviews from you guys.


	3. Chapter 3: Slip

Ushio and I started walking out of the classroom and towards the stairwell, headed to the courtyard.

"Do you think we should look for that girl?" She asked.

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, maybe she wants to join us for lunch." I simply let out another long sigh before jumping in front of her while walking backwards.

"You just love making friends, don't you?" She gave another warm smile.

"Well who doesn't?"

We continued to walk and talk like this for a little while until I suddenly felt the floor disappear from beneath my feet.

"Ayumi, look out!" Were the last words I heard Ushio scream at me before I fell backwards.

"Whoa! Uh!" I landed on something hard with a great thud, though it didn't feel like the floor. I must've blacked out for a few minutes because when I came to, I was lying on the ground, my head throbbing and by back aching. I saw two blurry figures hanging over me.

"Ayumi! Are you alright?" I heard Ushio's usual, soft voice ask me.

"Uh… I-I think so." I answered while slowly sitting up. "What happened?"

"You fell backwards down the stairs and landed on this guy." She said pointing behind me. I slowly twisted my head around and immediately felt my face blush bright red.

"I'm glad to see you're not hurt." The boy said in a gentle tone, his large, amber eyes filled with a relieved look.

"Uh... Y-yeah, I, uh… I'm sorry for falling on you. You're not hurt, right?" My words stuttered and stumbled. The boy simply ran his fingers through his short, wavy strawberry-blonde hair.

"I'll be fine." He said with kind eyes. "It's lucky for me you're so light." I felt my cheeks flush a little redder. He placed his hands on his knees and stood up before reaching his hand down to me. "Can you stand?" He asked.

"Y-yeah," I said as I took his freakishly soft hand. He pulled me up and I found myself being hit with a pang of dizziness as I fell on to his chest, blushing just a little bit more. "S-sorry." I apologized. I placed my hands on his chest to put a bit of distance between us and straightened myself. He simply stared at me with a warm, friendly smile.

"Don't worry, you're alright" he said looking down at me. I just noticed he was really freaking tall. I myself was no taller than average for my age but even so, the top of my head just barely reached his shoulders. Speaking of shoulders, I suddenly felt the gentle hands of Ushio on mine as she peeked over my shoulder with a cheeky grin.

"May we know the name of my friend's hero?" She asked jokingly. The boy raised an eyebrow at the two of us, but his face soon returned to the same gentle, friendly smile.

"Right, my name is Takeo Hayashi."

"How very fitting." Ushio said with another grin. "My name's Ushio Okazaki, and this is my friend, Ayumi Misaka." I simply smiled and gave Takeo an awkward little wave. To our surprise, he bowed his head to the two of us.

"It's very nice to meet the two of you." He said as he raised his head. The three of us just sort of stood there awkwardly until Ushio tugged on my blazer sleeve like a little kid.

"We should probably start eating lunch before we run out of time." She told me, holding up her bento box.

"Oh, you're right. Sorry Ushio." I apologized to her before looking back to Takeo.

"I guess this is goodbye then." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess so." I said whilst twiddling my thumbs.

"Who knows, maybe we'll meet again." Ushio added. Takeo smiled at the two of us.

"That's true." He said before we all said goodbye, him heading back into the building while Ushio and I stepped out into the courtyard to eat our lunches.

We sat down on a stone wall surrounding a little garden beneath the shade of a tree. I unwrapped my sandwich and dug into it while Ushio took the lid off of her bento box and looked inside. I couldn't help but get a look at it myself, and damn it looked good.

"Wow Ushio, that looks really good. Did you make it yourself?" I asked while looking at her lunch enviously. She smiled at me.

"No, my mom made it. She's a really great cook." Ushio replied as she popped a rice ball in her mouth. "You're welcome to try some if you'd like."

"Don't mind if I do." I said as I grabbed a piece of omelette and put it in my mouth. It was pretty damn good to say the least. "Wow, your mom's omelettes make my eggs taste like garbage." I told her while chewing. She giggled at me.

"I'll tell her you said that."

The two of us continued to nibble on our lunches in silence which was soon broken when Ushio finished her food and packed her empty bento box away before turning to stare at me with a mischievous grin spread across her face.

"What?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, it's nothing." She said while turning her head to look up at the tree we were sitting under. "I just couldn't help but notice that little blush you had on your face when we met Takeo. You wouldn't happen to have a little crush on him, would you?" I almost chocked on my sandwich before looking back to her.

"Y-you're kidding right?" I stuttered.

"Well I wouldn't blame you." She said, patting me on the back. "After all, he was kind of cute." I felt the blush returning to my face as I pushed her away and sighed.

"Okay, yeah. He was pretty good looking but even so, you saw his emblem right? He's a sophomore."

"Who cares if he's a sophomore?"

"I do." I said while jokingly raising my hand. "I just think it'd be awkward." Ushio giggled.

"Well you know, my mom's a year older than my dad, and they stick together like yin and yang."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you come over to my place tonight for dinner?" Ushio suggested as she jumped up off the wall.

"You sure about that?" I asked her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She said with a smile. I sighed and stood up off of the wall myself.

"Okay, sure. I guess I could come over tonight." A huge smile spread across Ushio's face as she took my hands and shook them up and down.

"Great! You can come over whenever you like!"

The two of us almost jumped when we heard the bell ring. "I guess we should head to class." Ushio said.

"Do you know what we have now?" I asked.

"Um… I think we have math now."

I groaned. I really, REALLY hate math.


	4. Chapter 4: The Library Monitor

The last lesson of the day seemed to go slower than a snail because, as previously stated, it was math. I hate math. I hate numbers, I hate addition, I hate subtraction, I hate multiplication, I hate division and I hate everything in-between. I glanced at Ushio who was sitting at the desk next to me. She had an unusually happy look on her face, a look which made me question whether or not the work had broken her brain. I took a quick look at her textbook only to see that the numbers and equations were perfectly written out and every answer seemed to be correct.

"I take it you like math?" I whispered as I tilted my head towards her, my head still facing the front of the room. She giggled quietly.

"Sort of." She whispered back. "I don't know, it's just easy for me." I sighed and looked at my textbook which looked like a toddler had scribbled in it compared to Ushio's.

The lesson eventually ended and the class began to pack up their things and head home. Ushio stood by my desk as I was packing my textbooks into my bag. "So, are you still coming over tonight?" She asked.

"Well, you did invite me." I smiled at her. Her smile grew wider.

"Great!" She beamed. "But it may have to be a little bit later. I wanted to check out some of the clubs after school."

"Oh? What clubs?" I asked as I stood up.

"Well actually, I wanted to see if I could join the school's drama club." I could feel my eyes widen with curiosity.

"Really? I never pictured you as the artsy-type."

"Well, actually, my mom and dad both used to be in the drama club back when they went to this school. They always told me stories about how they got to put on a play for the school festival and I thought it'd be cool to follow in their footsteps." Ushio explained with a soft smile on her face.

"That sounds pretty cool." I told her. "How about we talk more about it tonight?" Ushio's face lit up.

"Sure! That's a great idea!" She said as the two of us stepped out into the hall.

"Great. I'll see you tonight then." The two of us said goodbye as we went down opposite ends of the hallway. I was about to head down the stairs when the doors to the library caught my eye. I decided to step in for a few minutes when I remembered that there were some books I wanted to look for. The room was empty aside from one, familiar girl standing by one of the bookshelves.

The girl turned to face me with a friendly smile and bowed her head to me. "Hello there Ayumi. It's nice to see you again.

"Is that you, Izumi?" I asked.

"So you remember me?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to forget somebody who crashes into you with their bike." Izumi giggled.

"Oh, right. I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"So what are you doing here?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Same as you I guess."

"Oh, so you're a library monitor too?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean 'library monitor'?"

Before I knew it, the two of us were seated at a small table, each with a cup of tea and a stack of books at out sides.

"I don't belong to any clubs or sports teams, so I decided to ask the librarian if I could volunteer here since I spend most of my free time in the library anyway." Izumi told me as she sipped her tea.

"So… are you some sort of genius or something?" I asked as I did the same. She giggled at me and shook her head.

"No, not at all. I just love books. I spend a lot of time reading all sorts of different novels in different genres. Romance, comedy, tragedy, action, adventure, the list goes on and on."

"Oh I get it, you're a bookworm then."

"I guess you could call me that." She giggled again as she blew her messy, chestnut-colored fringe out of her green eyes. "What about you? Do you like books?" I smiled at her.

"Well, yeah but I prefer writing to reading." Izumi looked at me curiously.

"Really? You're a writer?"

"Well… I wouldn't really consider myself a writer since I've never finished anything I've written."

"Still, I think it's pretty cool. I've never met a writer before." I sighed.

"I told you, I'm not a writer. I just dabble, nothing more."

Our conversation was cut short by the sound of the great grandfather clock in the room clanging its great bells together, making the two of us jump in out chairs.

"Oh boy, it's already that late?" I said as I stood up from my chair. "Sorry Izumi, but I've got to go." Izumi gave me a warm smile.

"That's okay. I'm going to hang around in here for a little longer."

"I guess I might see you tomorrow then."

"I sure hope so." She said as she grabbed the books off of the table. "Oh, by the way. If you don't mind, do you think I could read some of your stories sometime?" I chuckled.

"We'll see." And with that, I waved goodbye to Izumi and began walking out of the school and towards my apartment before heading to the Okazaki household.

I quickly popped into my apartment to freshen up a bit. Even throughout the day my hair got annoyingly tangled as a result of the crashes with Izumi and Takeo. They were both really nice people, I guess the school is just filled with people like that.

I decided to change out of my school uniform and into a white tank top, peach colored sweater, jeans and sneakers before I called my parents to tell them where I was going, left the apartment, locked the door and made my way to Ushio's place.

* * *

I know you guys probably wanna hear more about Ushio and the Okazaki's, and trust me, it's coming, but this chapter was basically just so that you guys could get a better idea of what Izumi's like. I'm trying to make these characters as likable as possible since the characters were a major part of what made Clannad and Clannad After Story so great. If you have any idea of anything that could make the characters better then don't be afraid to message me.

Also, i'm still adding new characters at a slower pace but if you guys have any idea of your own original characters, message me and I'd be more than happy to put them in the story if I like them.


	5. Chapter 5: The Big Okazaki Family

By the time I got out of my apartment, the sun was already beginning to set. The sun's rays made the scenery around me look rich and vibrant, colored with orange and gold. I'd never been to Ushio's house, and I was trying my best to find it, but the only thing I had to guide me was a small scrap of paper with her address written on it that she'd given me during the break.

I made my way down an unfamiliar street in a rather beautiful neighborhood. I eventually reached a rather small yet pleasant looking house which I presumed was Ushio's. I quickly checked the time on my phone before I decided to see if it was actually her house or not. It was already 6:00. As I tucked my phone back into my pocket, I caught a whiff of something delicious coming from the house. The scent was definitely familiar, I felt as though I'd recently smelled something like it.

With a few shakes of my head I managed to clear my mind and approach the door to ring the doorbell. I waited a few moments before hearing soft yet familiar footsteps coming down the hallway, only to be greeted by Ushio's signature, warm smile.

"Welcome Ayumi!" She said as she grabbed my hands and shook them. "I've been waiting for you."

"Uh, yeah. Sorry to keep you waiting." I apologized taking my hands back from Ushio and rubbing the back of my head. Ushio giggled at me.

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. Come on in!" Ushio lead me down the narrow hallway of her house. There were a bunch of beautiful pictures displayed on the walls which I constantly found myself stopping to look at. One particular picture which caught my eye appeared to be a family photo. Four adults and one child, a little girl wearing a blue school dress and a white ribbon in her hair.

"That's the first family picture we had taken." I heard Ushio explain as she pointed out each of the people in the picture. "That's my dad," She pointed to a tall, blue haired man. "And that's my mom." She pointed to a rather beautiful looking woman who looked like Ushio but with shorter hair.

"Then is that you?" I asked as I pointed to the little girl in the picture.

"It sure is." Ushio said with a great big smile. "That's me when I was just 5 years old."

"Then who are these people?" I asked as I pointed to a slightly older looking couple, both with the same colored hair as Ushio and her mother.

"That's Sanae and Aki!" Ushio explained. "They're my grandparents on my mother's side." I smiled at the picture. Everybody in it looked so peaceful and happy.

"Hey, Ushio!" The two of us jumped from hearing a rather deep voice coming from another room at the end of the hall.

"Yes dad?" Ushio replied to the voice. I found myself staring at Ushio's father in the picture.

"Bring your friend out here will you?" The voice asked.

"Oh, right." Ushio suddenly realized as she grabbed my hand and lead me down the hallway once again. At the end of the hallway was a beautiful living area connected to a rather cozy looking kitchen. I continued to look around the room before Ushio and I were approached by a familiar looking man.

"Care to introduce me to your friend, Ushio?" The man asked. Ushio smiled at him.

"Right. Dad, this Ayumi Misaka. She's a friend of mine from school." Ushio turned to face me. "Ayumi, this is my dad." I bowed my head to him, trying to be as polite as possible.

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir" Ushio's dad simply chuckled and gave me a warm smile which seemed to resemble Ushio's.

"Please, call me Tomoya." He said as I raised my head.

"Uh, right."

"Hey dad, Where's mom?" Ushio asked.

"I'm right here!" The three of us heard a sweet voice coming down the hallway. We all turned to see a rather beautiful young woman stepping into the living area carrying several grocery bags. I instantly identified her as Ushio's mother. The two of them shared the same eyes, hair color and goofy yet adorable smiles. "Sorry I took so long, I just needed to get some stuff for dinner tonight." She said as she propped the bags up on the kitchen counter. "So, who's your friend?"

Ushio grabbed my hand and lead me over to her mother. "Mom, this is Ayumi Misaka, she's my friend from school. Ayumi, this is my mom."

I found myself bowing my head once again. "It's very nice to meet you." Ushio's mother giggled.

"Ushio, your friend is so well mannered!" She said as she cupped my chin and raised my head. "You can call me Nagisa, okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Thank you, Nagisa."

For the next half an hour or so I was seated at the table with Tomoya while Ushio and Nagisa got dinner ready. It was a little awkward at first, but Tomoya seemed like a really open person, so the two of us soon struck up a conversation.

"I hope your parents were okay with you coming here" Tomoya said as he took a sip of his tea. I felt my body go stiff again.

"Well, actually…" Once again I was cut short as Ushio and Nagisa entered the dining room and set all of the finished food on the table.

"Come to think of it Ayumi, I don't think you've ever mentioned your parents before." Ushio said as she sat down on the floor next to me.

"Well I was going to this morning but I was interrupted when Izumi crashed into me."

"What's this about somebody crashing into you?" Tomoya cut in with a stern look on his face.

"Nobody got hurt, did they?" Nagisa asked.

"No, no, no!" Ushio tried to explain while waving her hands out in front of her. "It's okay, nobody got hurt. We just had a bit of an incident with a freshman girl on the way to school this morning."

As the four of us ate dinner, the room was filled with chatter and laughter. The atmosphere was very warm and friendly. It was a bit strange, but I really felt right at home with the Okazaki's.

"So Ayumi," Tomoya began talking with some noodles in his mouth. "What were you saying about your parents?"

"Oh right I almost forgot." I swallowed some rice. "My parents own a big business and they travel all around Japan because of it."

"Does that mean that you won't be staying here for long?" Nagisa asked. I shook my head.

"Actually, after a long chat with my parents they let me stay here by myself."

"So then, where do you live?" Ushio asked.

"Oh, I live in a little apartment by myself near the shopping district." I told her.

"Oh my, doesn't it get lonely?" Nagisa asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Well, yeah. But my parents call me all the time and I have some really great friends at school." I said as I looked to Ushio who smiled back at me.

"Well I hope you know that you're welcome over here anytime you like." Tomoya said, giving me a warm smile.

"Thank you very much." I said as I bowed to him.

The four of us soon finished dinner which I have to admit was one of the best dinners I'd had in a long time and I helped clean up a little before Ushio and I headed to her room to hang out for a little bit.

"I really can't believe that you live all by yourself." She said as she hugged her pillow.

"It's not really that strange, is it?" I asked her.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's strange, but there's a lot of things you need to be careful of."

"Like what?" Ushio rubbed her chin.

"Well, there's all kinds of things, like fires, robbers, you could slip and hurt yourself, and what if you got sick? Who would look after you?" I simply chuckled at her.

"You're good at overreacting, aren't you?" Ushio sighed.

"Sorry. It's just, you're my friend and I'd be upset if anything happened to you.

"You don't have anything to worry about." I told her while giving her a reassuring look. "I have a bunch of emergency numbers I can call if anything happens."

Ushio managed to crack a smile at me. "I guess that makes me feel a little better."

The two of us were interrupted by a knock on Ushio's door. "Come in." She said as she placed her pillow back in its rightful place on her bed. The door cracked open and Nagisa popped her head in.

"Are you two having fun?" She asked.

"We sure are!" Ushio smiled back at her.

Nagisa gave me a warm smile. "Do you need anything? Any tea or snacks?"

"Actually, I should probably start heading home." I said as I stood up from Ushio's bed. "It's getting late and we've got school tomorrow."

"Oh, I see. Do you need any help getting home?" Nagisa Asked.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good."

Ushio stood up next to me and smiled. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, thanks for having me." I thanked her and Nagisa.

"It's been a pleasure having you here." Nagisa said. "Don't forget, you're welcome here any time."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." I headed down the hallway and to the front door, saying goodbye to the Okazaki family before leaving their home and heading to my own. I looked back at their house before it left my sight and saw that it seemed to exude a very warm and friendly aura. Either that or I was just tired. Either way, I felt a little sad to be leaving such a happy family so soon, even if it wasn't forever.

I eventually reached my apartment. I let myself in and locked the door behind me before I flicked on the light in the room and got ready for bed.

* * *

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Bringing back Nagisa and Tomoya was pretty interesting to write about, and I hope I managed to make them sound realistic.

Anyway, I should probably mention that at this point the Okazaki family is no longer living in the tiny apartment. I'd like to think that at this point, Tomoya managed to save enough money to buy a proper house for his family. I'll make sure to write more about the Okazaki family in the future.


	6. Chapter 6: The Writing Club

The following few weeks of school were a total blur. Nothing really exciting happened for me or Ushio aside from the fact that she got accepted into the drama club. I was often dragged along to their meetings as Ushio hoped that I would want to join the club with her. I always felt bad for having to tell her that I wasn't into the performing arts, (even though she only asked me twice) but even so, I could tell that she worried about me. She was cute like that.

I guess she was just worried about me not having many friends. She herself was great at making friends, and she had tones of pals in the drama club who looked up to her because as it turned out, she was a natural actress. But even so, Ushio was my only close friend and I often found myself alone whenever she had club activities.

Today was one of those days. The founder's festival at our school was coming up and all of the clubs have been getting busier and busier trying to prepare for it. I was times like this that I was happy to not be a part of any clubs. On this particular day, I decided to visit Izumi in the library during break. She always seemed happy to see me and I had to admit I really liked seeing her.

"I've noticed that you seem to visit me a lot these days." She said as she poured me a cup of tea.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that."

"You don't have to apologize, I'm happy that I have a friend who comes and visits me from time to time." She said with a giggle.

"Well unless I end up joining any clubs, I'm afraid you'll be seeing a lot more of me."

"You're not part of any clubs?" She asked, giving me a shocked look.

"Uh, well no I'm not. But it's not really a big deal, is it? After all, it's not compulsory to be a member of a club at this school."

"Well, no it' not." Izumi began as she sat down. "But still, I thought that you of all people would be a part of the writing club or something."

I almost chocked on my tea. "This school has a writing club?"

"I think so." Izumi pondered as she rubbed her chin. "Though I don't think that they've been doing much lately, they're not very well known."

"If they're not very well known then how do you know about them?" I asked.

"Oh, I often get some members come in here to borrow books for references."

"You wouldn't happen to know what room they're in, would you?"

"I'm pretty sure they use one of the rooms on the 2nd floor in the old building." Izumi told me as she sipped her tea. "Anyway, you wouldn't happen to be writing any new stories, would you?"

"Actually, I've picked an old story that I started in middle school back up again." I told her with a smile.

"Really? What's it about?" She asked curiously.

"You're gonna have to wait to find out." I told her with a wink.

After that, lunch soon ended and I found myself in math class sitting next to Ushio once again. I stared out of the window, not paying any attention to the teacher or whatever he was writing on the board. I was too distracted by the question I had on my mind since I last talked to Izumi. Should I go check out the writing club?

My train of thought was lost when Ushio nudged me. I looked over to her as she pointed to one of the equations she had written neatly in her book. "Do you know the answer to this one?" She whispered.

"You must be really desperate to be asking me for help." I told her while chuckling quietly.

"Actually, I was just checking to see if you were paying attention." She sighed as she wrote down the correct answer. (Or at least I assumed it was correct) "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. I just hate math and I don't want to be here." I told her.

"Hey! Stop talking back there!" The teacher yelled at the two of us, making us both jump.

Before I knew it, school had ended for the day. I barely noticed until Ushio tapped me on the shoulder.

"Ayumi, the bell just rang." She told me.

"Oh, right." I sighed as I stood up and packed my belongings into my bag. "I don't suppose you want to walk home together, do you?"

"I'm sorry, I've got another club meeting." She said apologetically. "Why don't we hang out tomorrow? It is Sunday after all, we don't have school tomorrow."

"I guess that'd be alright." I said as I flung my book bag over my shoulder. "I wanted to check out a club anyway."

I saw Ushio's eyes light up with interest. "Really? What club?"

"The writing club." I told her as we made our way to the door.

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me something about writing. That's great Ayumi! I'm really happy for you."

"I haven't decided to join yet. But Izumi recommended it to me so the least I could do would be to check it out."

"Huh? Izumi? Isn't that the girl who hit you with her bike on the first day of term?"

"Yeah, she's the one I've been hanging out with whenever you're busy with the drama club."

"Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid that you were spending your lunches alone. I'm so glad to hear that you've made another friend." Ushio sighed.

"You sure do like to worry about me, don't you?"

The two of us soon parted ways for the day. Ushio headed to the drama club in the new building and I made my way to the older building.

"Second floor of the old school building." I repeated Izumi's directions to myself. There were about six rooms on the second floor. How on earth was I going to figure out which one it was? The only idea I could think of was to choose the room with the least amount of noise coming from it. I started at the end of the hall and pressed my ear to the first door. I heard a bunch of students laughing at something. I had my doubts that the writing club could be that cheerful, onto the next door. I pressed my ear up to the second door and heard a lot of strange banging sounds, as if somebody was hammering something. Nope, this isn't the one either.

I moved onto the third room and put my ear up against the door. The only thing I could hear were footsteps headed right towards me until the door suddenly slid open and I fell into the room with a loud thud.

"Ouch!" I cried out from the pain of my shoulder hitting the hard floor.

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard a familiar and unusually friendly voice ask me. I looked up to see a very familiar hand reach towards me. My eyes moved up to the hand's owner to see none other than the same boy I had already embarrassed myself in front of weeks prior.

"T-Takeo!" I stuttered, already feeling the blush spread across my face.

"Do you need a hand?" He asked kindly. I gratefully took his hand as he helped me stand up like he did all those weeks ago.

"Uh, sorry about that." I apologized as I scratched the back of my head, my fingers getting tangled in my red ribbon.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." He chuckled. "It's good to see you again, Ayumi."

My heart skipped a beat. "You remembered my name?"

"Well, you remembered mine."

"Well, yeah I guess that's true." I said as my eyes shifted towards the floor.

"So tell me, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, right. I was looking for the writing club. I don't suppose you know what room they're in, do you?"

Takeo gave me a bit of a shocked look before he let out a short sigh and shifted his gaze to the room behind me. "You're in it."

I turned around to see that the room was almost completely empty aside from a single table, a chair and a very old computer. "This is the writing club?" I asked as I turned back to Takeo.

"Yeah, though I'm afraid it's not an official club. It's been disbanded since the beginning of the year." He said with a gloomy look on his face which didn't suit him at all.

"Don't tell me you're the only member."

"Uh, well no. We do have one other member, but she's away with a bad cold."

"Do you have an advisor?" I asked.

"Yeah, Mr. Yamada, the literacy teacher said he'd be our advisor if we started the club back up."

"That's perfect!" I exclaimed with a huge (probably really creepy looking) smile spreading across my face. "Takeo, if you let me join the writing club, then we'll be recognized by the student council, right?"

"Do you really think so?" His eyes growing wide with interest.

"I know so! We have the head count, and an advisor."

And with that, the biggest smile I had ever seen spread across Takeo's face.

* * *

Hello there my lovelies!

Sorry about uploading this chapter a day late but I've been really busy all week at my school with doing lighting for a drama performance which means a lot of hours spent at the school after hours.

Anyway, I'm trying really hard to make these chapters a little longer so if you're not happy with the length or anything else so far feel free to give me a message.

Also, quick side note: Today's my 16th birthday! So that's a thing.

As always, like, follow, review and new chapter will be up next Friday.


	7. Chapter 7: A Real Writer

I sat at the table in the writing club's room with Takeo sitting across from me smiling at me.

"You know, it's funny. You really couldn't have come at a better time." He said as he poured me a cup of tea.

"Well I'm really happy to help, though to be honest, I never would've guessed you'd be into writing."

"Heh, yeah." He smirked. "Believe it or not, my mother was a writer. She wrote a lot of really popular romance novels."

"Really?" I sat there slightly stunned. "I guess it must be in your blood then."

Takeo chuckled at me. "You could be right about that."

Damn he was cute.

"So, who's this other member?" I asked trying to distract myself.

"Oh, she's a junior girl named Sumiko Mori. To be honest, she can be a little crabby at times but she's really a nice girl."

"You said she was away with a bad cold, she's not in hospital is she?" I asked as I sipped my tea.

"Oh, no. I wouldn't say it was 'that' serious. It's just that, she's been away all week. But I don't think that it's as bad as I'm making it out to be." Takeo chuckled.

"That's good to hear, I guess." I gazed out of the window looking at the beautiful view which had been painted gold by the ever-gorgeous sunset.

"Uh, excuse me for asking, but have you ever written anything before?" Takeo asked.

"Well why would I want to join if I've never written anything?" I smirked at him.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. What kind of stories do you write?" He asked, giving me a warm smile.

"Well…" I began as I placed my teacup on the table and leaned back in my chair. "I haven't started any new stories in a while. In fact, I recently picked up a story that I started back in middle school."

"Oh really? What about?"

"Uh, I don't like telling people about what I'm writing." I frowned at him.

"How come?" He asked, tilting his head to one side like a puppy.

"Because I don't consider myself a real writer." I told him while staring at the ceiling. "It's not like my stories are ever going to get published, so I prefer to keep them to myself. They're all pretty stupid anyway"

I looked back down to Takeo who had a kind of sad looking smile on his face, as if he was a character in a tragedy manga. "Well, you don't know that for sure." He argued. I merely shrugged.

"Trust me, they're nothing special."

"If that's the way you feel, then why do you write in the first place?"

Takeo's question caught me a little off guard. I had to wonder for a minute. "Well, I guess I do it because I've got nothing better to do with my time." I didn't really mean it. It was just the first answer which came to mind. But even so, it was a bad answer, and I could see that Takeo was upset because of it.

"Is that seriously your answer?" He asked.

I sighed. "No. To be honest, I have no idea why I write. I guess I just do it to escape from boring, everyday life. I know that you can do the same with reading, but I just feel like I have a lot more freedom when I write."

The next thing I know, Takeo slams his palms on the table and stands up from his seat. The sudden outburst shocked me to the point where I almost spilled my tea.

"That's exactly it!" He exclaimed.

The shock that his outburst gave me was nothing compared to the next minute when he sat back down and held my hands in his. My heart immediately began to pound and my face flushed red, though he didn't seem to notice. "See, I knew you'd get it." He smiled warmly at me.

"Uh… Get what?" I asked.

Takeo's face snapped from his over-the-top, beaming glow back to his usual cheerful smile. "Uh, sorry about that." He chuckled while scratching the back of his head. "I always go a bit weird when it comes to this sort of stuff.

"It's alright." I told him while flashing him a quick wink. "It's good for the club leader to be passionate."

The next minute, all of the colour seemed to drain from Takeo's face. "You want me to be the club leader?"

"Well, I can't imagine anybody else taking up the role."

"Uh, well… I think that we should wait until Sumiko comes back to school before we make that decision." He said with a nervous cough.

"Alright then, that sounds fine to me." I agreed as I stood up from my chair. "It's getting kind of late, we should probably call it a day."

"Oh yeah, I didn't notice." Takeo said as he grabbed his bag. "If you don't mind me asking, where do you live?"

"Huh?" I looked at him with a slight frown. "Uh, I live in an apartment near the shopping district."

"Great!" Takeo exclaimed with another bright smile. "My house is just past the shopping district. What do you say I walk you home?"

The blush once again returned to my face, my eyes immediately shot to the floor to avoid making eye contact with him. "Uh, sure… You can if you want."

And with that, the two of us headed out of the room, out of the school and down the hill, together. The whole way, I fiddled and fidgeted. I couldn't understand why I was so nervous, but I really wished the feeling would stop.

"So, you said you lived in an apartment, right?" Takeo's voice cut through the nervous feeling in my head.

"Uh, yeah."

"Who do you live with?"

"Oh, you know… Just me, myself and I." I told him while looking everywhere but at him.

"You live by yourself?" He asked sounding as shocked as Ushio did when I told her.

"Y-yeah, but it's not really a big deal." I reassured him while finally looking up to his concerned face and cracking him a nervous smile.

"Where are your parents?"

"Uh… At this time of year, they'd be in Tokyo."

Our entire descent down the hill was spent with me explaining my parent's situation to Takeo. The look on his face by the time we reached the bottom was a little bit heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry, I know it's really none of my business, but to me, that sounds like something right out of a nightmare."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. Besides, I've got heaps of friends at school, so it's not like I get lonely or anything. You don't have to get so upset." I reassured him.

Takeo simply sighed. "That's true. I guess it just upsets me because I'm not used to being lonely."

"Oh really? How big is your family?" I asked.

"Actually, I'm the oldest of four kids." He said, giving me a goofy looking smile.

Holy cow. Being an only child, that really shocked me. "You have three siblings?" I asked.

"Yeah, two twin sisters in middle school, and a little brother who just started elementary school."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of Takeo having to watch over a bunch of little kids. "I bet you're a great big brother."

"Well, I try to be."

After a few more minutes of chatting, we eventually reached my apartment building. "Do you want to come in?" I blurted out without thinking of the possible repercussions that could follow.

"Uh… If you're willing to have me." He chuckled.

"Of course, come on in." I said as I turned around to hide the blush which was once again spreading across my face. I opened the door and immediately had to apologize for the mess. There were blankets and throw pillows all over the room due to my bedroom and the living room being one in the same. I managed to do a quick tidy up before Takeo and I were seated at the table with a cup of coffee and a few slices of castella which I baked myself.

"Um… I hope I'm not being too forward," Takeo broke the silence, "But are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Actually, I promised my friend, Ushio that I'd hang out with her tomorrow." I told him. "Why do you ask?"

I could see Takeo looking down and fiddling with his cake. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, his eyes being hidden by his wavy bangs. "I… Uh, I was just going to ask if you wanted to hang out tomorrow."

The coffee I was sipping on ended up going down my windpipe and I coughed and spluttered at those few words. "You seriously want to spend your one day off hanging out with me?" I asked.

"Well, I just thought we could discuss more about the writing club." Takeo raised his head to reveal an adorable blush spreading across his face.

"Well… I'm expecting a call from Ushio to see if she's up for hanging out tomorrow. If you want to stick around until she calls, we could organize for you to come with us. How does that sound?" I asked.

"How do you know she'll call?"

"Trust me, she'll call." I told him with a wink. Takeo simple chuckled at me and continued to eat his cake. "Want some more?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. That'd be great, thank you."

I stood up from my chair and headed to the fridge to grab some more castella. It only took a few minutes but when I turned back I caught Takeo with his back turned to me, his eyes fixed firmly to the brown leather satchel I kept at the foot of my bed.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry." He apologized with an awkward little grin. "I was just looking around the room. That bag that you have, I think my mom had one just like it."

"Really?" I asked as I placed the castella on the table and went to pick the satchel up. I brought it over to Takeo and put it down on the table. "I'm surprised this caught your eye actually. This is where I keep all of the copies of my stories."

"It is?" Takeo asked with a curious gleam in his eye. "Could I read some?"

I couldn't help but let out a loud groan. "I did say that I don't like people reading my stories, didn't I?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Takeo apologized as he shuffled awkwardly in his seat. I felt bad, he was so adorable.

"Though, If you promise to keep them to yourself…" I could already see Takeo glancing at me anxiously. I sighed and reluctantly reached into the satchel and pulled out several papers which had all been clipped together. "This is the one I've been working on lately. It's a romance/tragedy. I've been meaning to spellcheck it but since you want to read it so badly, I guess you could do it for me."

"What's it called?" Takeo asked as he grabbed the papers from me as if they were made of gold.

"Actually, I haven't come up with a name for it yet. Maybe you could help me with that." I smirked a little bit as I saw Takeo's face. He seriously looked like he was about to cry.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring. "Perfect timing." I joked as I stood up from the table and went to grab my phone.

"Hello?"

"Ah! Hey Ayumi, its Ushio."

"Oh, hey Ushio. I was wondering when you were going to call." I winked at Takeo who was still clutching the papers, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah, about tomorrow, mom says I can go out but I need to be back before dinner because my grandparents are coming over."

"That sounds okay to me. What do you want to do?"

"Uh… How about we go shopping? Then we could grab lunch somewhere."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Hey, it is okay if I bring a friend?" I asked her, grinning at Takeo who had already begun to skim over the papers.

"That's fine by me. I was actually going to ask you if I could bring a friend of my own."

"Sure. Bring them by my apartment in the morning and we'll all walk to the shopping district together."

"That's perfect! I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Great. Bye." I hung up the phone and turned back to Takeo who was still reading. "You can either come over here in the morning or meet us at the shopping district if you'd like." I told him.

"Oh, right. I guess it'd be easier to meet you at the district if that's okay." He said, looking up from the papers.

"That's fine with me." I said looking out the window at the dark, moonlit street. "It's pretty late, you should probably head home. Your parents are probably worried about you."

Takeo glanced outside and immediately stood up from his chair. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't notice it had gotten so late."

I lead Takeo to the door and waved goodbye to him as he headed down the street. To my surprise, I saw him turn back to me and cup his hands around his mouth before yelling: "THANKS FOR THE CASTELLA AND COFFEE!" and with that, he disappeared down the road and into the night.

I giggled at the door for a few seconds before I went back inside. I took a look around the now empty apartment and let out a long sigh before I cleaned up all of the dishes, slipped into my pajamas and fell face-first onto my bed, dozing off in an instant.

* * *

I know that you guys probably wanna see more Ushio, and trust me, it's coming, but I really wanna get you guys to know my character a little better. If there's anything you guys wanna see in this story I'm still completely open to any sort of suggestion.


	8. Chapter 8: Weekend Plans

My alarm clock rang its annoying little bells at 8:30am to which I retaliated by hitting it, sending it flying halfway across the room. Why did I set my alarm again? Oh yeah, I was supposed to go shopping with Ushio and the others today. But my bed was so comfortable, was it really worth it to get up and be social?

My thoughts came to a halt as I caught my phone just before it vibrated off of my bedside table. I looked to see a text from Ushio.

Groaning, I sat up on my bed, opened my phone and read the text aloud. "Hey, Ayumi. I hope you don't mind, my friend and I will be at your place in about 15 mins. See you soon, Shio." It took me a few moments for my brain to process what I'd just read. "15 minutes…" I repeated to myself. "Crap!"

As if I'd just been injected with a shot of adrenaline, I immediately shot up from my bed and hurried to the bathroom to check myself out, and my god I was a mess. I managed to brush through my honey-colored hair and fix my face in about 5 minutes before I dressed myself in a white tank top, olive green, short sleeved cargo jacket, denim shorts and brown boots, giving me just enough time to quickly tidy up my apartment before the doorbell rang.

I opened it and was greeted by a massive hug from Ushio. "Hey, Ayumi!" She exclaimed, hugging me tightly.

"Hey, Shio." I greeted her, returning the hug. "You're awfully happy."

Ushio broke the hug and smiled at me. "I guess I'm just a little excited. This is the first time I've been to your apartment, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with everyone!" She exclaimed.

"Me too. You look beautiful by the way." I complimented her while admiring her outfit. Her long, light brown hair was tied into a neat braid which ran all the way down her back. She wore a cute, low-necked, long sleeved, cream colored shirt, a short, waist-high green skirt and a pair of strappy, brown sandals.

"Really? Thanks! You look really pretty too." She said with a smile.

"Thanks. So, where's your friend?" I asked.

"Oh, he's waiting downstairs. His name is Daisuke Kagome and he's from the drama club. I think you'll really like him."

"I hope so." I grabbed my handbag before I left the apartment with Ushio, locked the door and walked down the steps. Halfway down, I spotted a young boy with short, spiky black hair which seemed to shine almost indigo. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a black vest. We reached the bottom and Ushio immediately ran over to the boy and to my surprise, hugged his arm. He seemed as surprised by the gesture as I was.

"Daisuke, this is my friend, Ayumi." She told him as she looked up to me.

"It's nice to meet you." I greeted him as I reached my arm out towards him to give him a friendly handshake.

"It's nice to meet you too." Daisuke said in a rather quiet, deep voice as he shook my hand. "So, you're Ushio's friend?"

"Yeah, we've known each other since we started at Hikarizaka."

Ushio looked at me and gave a slight chuckle. "Anyway, where's your friend, Ayumi?" She asked.

"Actually, I invited Takeo to hang out with us. He said he'd meet us at the shopping district."

"Takeo? You mean the guy you fell on first day of term?" Ushio asked.

"Shut up." I groaned. "Anyway, he's probably waiting for us. We should get going."

"Okay. Do you have everything, Daisuke?" Ushio asked the young man who nodded at her. The three of us began to slowly walk to the shopping district. The slow pace gave the three of us plenty of time to admire the weather. It was gorgeous and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. I glanced at Ushio who was walking alongside Daisuke, giggling. It made my heart flutter a little.

"Hey! Ayumi!" I heard Takeo's familiar voice call out to me and saw him standing at the entrance to the shopping district. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers and a colourful handkerchief scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. "I was wondering when you guys were going to get here."

"Sorry." Ushio apologized before I had the chance to. "You haven't been waiting long, have you?" She asked.

"No, not at all." Takeo replied giving one of his signature, friendly smiles.

"Ahem." I cleared my throat to catch Ushio's attention and continued to look from her to Daisuke.

"Oh! Right, sorry Daisuke, this is Takeo Hayashi." Ushio introduced the two boys to each other as I awkwardly stood next to Takeo.

"It's good to see you again, Daisuke. You look great." Takeo chucked as he pet Daisuke's back.

"I wish I could say the same for you." Daisuke chuckled jokingly. Ushio and I stood next to each other, dumbfounded.

"Do you two know each other?" Ushio asked.

"Yeah." Takeo replied as he scratched the back of his head. "The first time we met was back a few years ago in the hospital they built a few years back. We've actually been pretty good friends ever since."

"Takeo's a good mate, especially when I need help with school work."

Ushio and I simply looked at each other. I could see she was as surprised as I was.

"Anyway, where do you guys want to head first?" Takeo asked.

"Uh… Is anybody else hungry?" Ushio asked.

"I haven't even eaten breakfast." I told her.

"Same here." Daisuke chimed in.

"There's a little café just down the road if you guys want to head there first." Takeo suggested.

"That sounds good to me. What about you, Ayumi?" Ushio asked looking to me.

"I could go for a bite to eat." I said.

"Daisuke?" Ushio asked the other boy.

"Sure. I'm starved." He replied.

"Then it's settled." Takeo announced as the four of us began to walk down the street, him leading the way. We passed several stalls and shops selling all kinds of different foods, clothing, jewelry, we even had to stop to tear Ushio away from a cage of bunnies on display outside of the pet store.

We eventually reached a very small but cozy looking café. "Ambrosia." I read the sign sticking out from the wall written in curly, rose-pink letters.

"This is the place." Takeo said as he began to walk into the café.

"It looks like nobody's here." Ushio said as she followed, leading Daisuke in with her. The four of us were seated at a booth, me sitting next to Takeo and Ushio next to Daisuke. Three of us ordered some coffee in exception to Ushio who preferred sweet tea over the bitter drink, and some strawberry short cake.

"Those bunnies were so cute!" Ushio exclaimed as the four of us waited for our food. "I wish I could take one home with me."

"Do you like animals, Ushio?" I asked as I fiddled with a spoon on the table.

"Yeah, but I'm only really good with small rodents."

"I've got a dog at home." Takeo added in. "He's good with my siblings but he gets annoying when he barks at night."

"What about you, Ayumi?" Ushio asked as I drew my attention away from the spoon.

"What about me?" I asked.

"Do you like animals?"

I smirked. "Actually, I've been pestering my parents to let me get a cat for years."

"Are you allowed to have cats in your apartment?" Takeo asked.

"Yeah. There's an old couple who lives in the room next to me, and they have thee of the things." I told him.

"I've got a cat called Ginger." Daisuke added.

"Oh yeah, I remember her. I haven't seen her since she was a kitten." Takeo said with a gleam in his eye.

At that moment, the waitress came around with our food and drinks and we all dug into our little morning snack.

"I do love shortcake." Daisuke said as he ate a small piece.

"It's great, isn't it?" Ushio agreed as she popped a strawberry in her mouth. I chewed on the soft, sweet cake as I glanced at Takeo who hadn't yet touched his.

"You okay, Takeo?" I asked. He turned his head to face me with an awkward little smirk on his face.

"I guess I'm just not in the mood for sweet stuff." He said as he sipped his coffee.

"Why didn't you say so before we ordered?" Daisuke asked.

"Sorry." Takeo apologized. "I just didn't notice until now." With that, I took the plate of shortcake from in front of him and put it in the middle of the table, splitting it into three pieces and giving some to Ushio and Daisuke.

"In that case, you won't mind if we shared the rest." I said as I flashed him a smirk to which he replied with another awkward smile.

We finished our little snack and moved on, making our way up and down the district looking for things to waste our time with. I was steadily keeping up with Takeo who was walking at an unusually fast pace, Ushio and Daisuke trailing behind us. I looked up to Takeo who had a rather grim looking frown on his face. It worried me.

"Takeo?" I called his name as I gripped his arm and came to a halt. The gesture seemed to catch him a little off guard.

"Y-yeah?" He stuttered. "What's up?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I scowled at him. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's with that frown on your face? And why are you walking so fast? It's not like the stores are going anywhere, you can afford to slow down."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Takeo turned to look me in the eye and I saw that his face was flushed. "Are you feeling okay?" I asked.

The tall boy opened his mouth to speak until he glanced behind me with a confused expression. I turned around to see that Ushio and Daisuke had disappeared. "Oh that's just great." I sarcastically exclaimed, looking all around the two of us trying to find our two friends. The streets weren't too crowded, but even so, Ushio and Daisuke were nowhere to be seen. "Should I call Ushio?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. I turned back to Takeo who was looking worse than ever at this point. He was pale, feverish, short of breath but most of all, he was sick. I lead him over to a bench in a shaded area outside of a clothing store and got out my cellphone. To my surprise, I already had a text from Ushio.

**To: Ayumi Misaka**

**"****Where are you?"**

**From: Ushio Okazaki**

I read the text aloud. I looked up to the store which had the word "Silk" written on a sign in bold, black letters.

**To: Ushio Okazaki**

**"****Takeo and I are outside of a clothing store called "Silk". Are you with Daisuke?"**

**From: Ayumi Misaka**

**To: Ayumi Misaka**

**"****Don't worry, he's right here next to me. He left his wallet at the café so we had to come back to grab it. Sorry for not telling you."**

**From: Ushio Okazaki**

**To: Ushio Okazaki**

**"****That's okay. Takeo's not feeling very well, I'm gonna take him home. Will the two of you be okay by yourselves?"**

**From: Ayumi Misaka**

**To: Ayumi Misaka**

**"****Oh, that's not good :( Tell Takeo that I hope he's okay. Daisuke and I will be fine on our own."**

**From: Ushio Okazaki**

**To: Ushio Okazaki**

**"****Will do. Be careful getting home. I'll see you tomorrow."**

**From: Ayumi Misaka**

Once my little texting-spree with Ushio was over, I turned back to Takeo who had his elbows on his knees and his face hidden in his hands. Whatever was going on with him, it wasn't good.

"Takeo," I said his name to grab his attention as I crouched down. I saw his amber eyes peek at me from behind his fingers "Takeo, I think I should take you home."

The tall boy simply groaned and ran his hands down his face. "I've ruined everything, haven't I?" he asked in an extremely breathy voice.

"Don't worry about it." I reassured him as I placed a hand on his shoulder. "You haven't ruined anything. You can't help it if you're sick." I stood up off the ground and held my hand out for him. "Come on, let's get you home." The boy shakily grabbed my hand and the two of us slowly made our way out of the shopping district and towards (what I hoped was) Takeo's house.


End file.
